MAC Blog Post 1: WK 1 reading: The Art of Happiness

This weeks reading was amazing! This assignment validated my way of living and thinking. Often people call me a naïve Pollyanna, and do not understand the way that I choose to see the world.  I am always telling people, especially my students, that we can choose to be happy or we can choose to be miserable. I choose happy.  The story about the Korean student who chose to give himself an “A” as opposed to seeing himself as number 68 is a prime example of the way that I choose to see myself. This is difficult, and requires constant re-evaluation and metacognition on my part, but it is well worth it. The point of view espoused in the Art of  Possibility is the key to happiness.  I have found that self -evaluation and knowing thyself is the first step to happiness. The book speaks well to standards of evaluation and the role they play in point of view. When I lived by other people’s standards I often fell short and was miserable. When I validated my own opinions, created my own standards, and gave myself an “A” by accepting that my opinions and standards were just as valid as anyone else’s; I left the world of blame and inadequacy and entered the world of happiness. The ability to visualize oneself as successful is the key to the type of positive thinking that changes lives and creates the reality of success. This concept is the essential element in many self-help books like Napoleon Hill’s Think and Grow Rich. Seeing possibilities is truly an art that is at the root of living a magical and successful life.